Fires Of Vulcan

The Fires Of Vulcan by Steve Lyons 

Ah, another Pure Historical. Without Evelyn, these usually fail to click with me. 

And Seven never rrrr-really seemed like a historical doctor to me, but what do you know, because the Fires Of Vulcan is exquisite. Not a perfect story, of course, but nonetheless exquisite. It never fails to shock me with what early Big Finish got away with on audio. This probably isn’t the story to mention that, but stories like Master push the fold. It’s almost as if Big Finish realized they had a mostly adult niche audience In their early days. Although it’s subtle (in parts), there’s plenty of heavy themes going around here. There’s something dismal about this story… not Holy Terror dismal or Jubilee dismal, no, rather foreboding. It’s television counterpart, Fires Of Pompeii, seemed to miss that bit. 

Unlimited Rice Pudding: Sylvester McCoy can be uneven for me on audio, especially in recent stories, like Eye of The Storm or The Split Infinitive. Luckily he’s…(allow me to sprout the cliche) rather good here. I like him far more in his brooding moods, not when he’s silly or worse angry, he’s far more competent being the darkest Doctor. You really have an awe at him here, paired with the unassuming Mel Who is also on top form. He challenges a gladiator, for heaven's sake, a short little man standing up to someone as strong as that. He’s nigh apocalyptic.

The Goody Two Shoes Act: Mel is great. There, I said it. You don’t need paragraphs of description of how exceedingly magnificent and glorious she is here, just listen to the last track of Part Two and try not to be utterly wowed. This is the Mel story. 

Not The One Doctor, although that is a great tale, but Fires Of Vulcan pours character note onto character note and we’re given someone like her who can make dramatic material like this work, while still being the very same companion from Season 24. Color me wowed. 

Overall: I love Fires Of Vulcan. There’s dramatic weight to it, and it borders on bits of not much happening, but it catches up, and delivers the best dang cliffhangers I’ve heard from the Company. I can’t think of much flaw to it, but there is room for improvement. I mean, you could have done this story with Evelyn. 9/10